


Something Like Fate

by happylikeafool



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Day 3, Day 4, F/F, Soulmate AU, Swan Queen Week Winter 2017, medical AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-01
Updated: 2017-02-01
Packaged: 2018-09-21 08:34:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,069
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9539921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/happylikeafool/pseuds/happylikeafool
Summary: The call comes in just after midnight. Officer down, multiple gunshots.Regina Mills is the trauma surgeon on call when Emma Swan is wheeled into the Boston General emergency room. It would be simple enough if Regina's world didn't suddenly go from grey to bursting with colour when their eyes met.





	

The call comes in just after midnight. 

 

_ Officer down, multiple gunshots, ETA seven minutes. _

 

Regina Mills is the trauma surgeon on call and she wastes no time moving from the attending lounge she's been resting in down to the emergency room and out into the ambulance bay. She waits standing perfectly still, posture rigid, as the others waiting for the ambulance chatter around her. She’s worked at Boston General long enough that they know better than to try to talk to her right now. 

 

She's doing what she always does in instances like this - preparing herself for what's ahead, imagining possible injuries and how she will address them.  _ This _ is one of the most frustrating  parts of being a surgeon. These moments where she has to stand here waiting, knowing someone's life is hanging in the balance out there and that there is nothing she can do about it  _ yet _ . Once the patient is unloaded from the ambulance she will be in charge, in control, until then, the patient’s life may as well be in the hands of fate. And it's been a long time since she’s thought that fate is anything other than cruel. She's known so since she was seventeen years old. Since her first love, a boy named Daniel, saw colour when he looked at her and all she saw was grey. She’s known so since she was eighteen years old, standing at his graveside. 

 

The ambulance arrives,  _ finally _ , flashing lights and blaring siren, two police cars with sirens just as loud pulling in behind it. Regina is already moving forward as the doors to the ambulance fly open and the stretcher is pulled out by paramedics she recognizes. She’s poised to start barking orders, to assess the situation, and then the patient struggles on the gurney, tries to sit up, her eyes darting wildly and landing on Regina, and Regina’s entire world flickers from shades of grey to bursting with colour. She freezes, blinking slowly as her eyes adjust to the sudden vibrance surrounding her.

 

Ruby, a general surgeon’s who’s been at Boston General just as long as Regina, is the first to notice Regina’s dead halt and she quirks a confused eyebrow, “Regina?”

 

Regina startles, her head tilting slowly over in Ruby’s direction. 

 

“Are you okay?” Ruby frowns, concern apparent on her face.

 

“I’m fine,” Regina nods, sounding slightly less than convincing as she moves forward towards the stretcher on stilted legs. “I’m  _ fine _ ,” she repeats firmly when Ruby still looks at her uncertainly and then her attention shifts.

 

“What do we have?” She asks, glancing briefly at the patient and then over at the paramedics, listening to their debrief as the gurney is moved into the emergency room and over into one of the trauma bays. 

 

Police officers, a whole slew of them, try to follow them into the trauma bay and she has to hold up a hand to stop them, “You can’t come in here,” she says firmly, leaving no room for argument, “you can wait in the waiting room.”

 

They look like they want to protest but they know better and with grim expressions they turn to leave.

 

“Wait,” Regina stops them, a sudden thought occurring to her, “What’s her name?”

 

“Emma,” the youngest looking officer tells her.

 

“ _ Emma _ ,” Regina repeats it slowly, tests it out, let’s it roll off her tongue, and then she’s turning, moving with purpose into the trauma bay and seizing control of the situation.        

 

xxxxxx

 

She barks orders at everyone in the trauma bay. They obey without question and she moves towards the head of the stretcher, where Emma is still struggling, reaching up with hands covered in dried blood to try and pry the oxygen mask off of her face. “ _ Emma _ ,” Regina says her name loudly, sharply, “Emma,” she repeats more gently and Emma stills, her hands stopping their fruitless attempts to peel away the oxygen mask and her eyes focusing on Regina. Emma’s eyes are a stunning colour that Regina doesn’t know the name of yet, they’re bright but oh so very panicked, oh so terrified. 

 

“My name is Regina, I’m a surgeon,” Regina speaks in her most reassuring voice, keeping her eyes locked with Emma’s, “And I’m going to take really good care of you, I promise. But I need you to relax. Okay?” Emma blinks rapidly at her looking no less terrified and Regina adds, “Do you understand?”

 

There’s no reaction for a moment but then the panic in Emma’s eyes seems to diminish a fraction and her head bobs in the affirmative.

 

Regina let’s out the breath she’d been holding, “Okay.” It’s hard to look away but she really needs to assess the damage, “I’m going to check things out now, okay?” Emma’s head bobs, yes, again and Regina is moving down the gurney towards where Ruby is already working.

 

Ruby lifts gauze she’s been using to staunch the flow of blood to show Regina the wounds on Emma’s abdomen. Regina’s eyes widen, not at the wounds themselves but at the colour of the blood oozing from them. She knows that this colour is called  _ red _ but this isn’t at all how she’s imagined blood would look. It’s  _ so  _ bright and mesmerizing. 

 

Ruby is eyeing her strangely again and Regina shakes herself out of her stupor, moving closer, pursing her lips as she works.

 

There isn’t much they can do here in the emergency room, they need to move to the operating room  _ fast _ .   

 

xxxxxx

 

Regina and Ruby stand nearly shoulder to shoulder as they scrub in for the surgery. Through the glass window, Regina can see where they're prepping Emma, putting her under general anesthesia. 

 

“So are you going to tell me what's going on with you or what?” Ruby asks.

 

Regina’s lips purse and she doesn't look at Ruby, just keeps staring through the window at Emma on the operating room table. “There's nothing going on,” she insists. 

 

“Seriously?” Ruby's eyebrows arch.

 

“Yes,” Regina insists again, scrubbing her hands and forearms harder.

 

“ _ Regina _ ,” Ruby's voice is quieter now, serious, concerned, “Do you  _ know _ this girl?”

 

Regina looks over at Ruby then, her eyes narrowed, “No.” There's an edge to her voice, a tone that says ‘I'm done with these questions.’ 

 

Ruby looks like she might push it anyway but finally she just sighs, “Alright, if you say so.”

 

“I do,” Regina responds, needing to have the last word. And she isn't lying, that woman lying on that operating table is her  _ soulmate _ but she  _ doesn't  _ know her, has never seen her before today. And maybe Regina hasn't ever put much stock in soulmates but, still, there is no way she's willing to leave the life of  _ hers _ in anyone's hands but her own. She doesn't care what fate has planned, Emma isn't going to die today because she isn't going to let that happen.

xxxxxx

 

Any concern that Ruby might have about whatever is up with Regina vanishes in the operating.

 

They work together to repair the damage caused by three bullets in a kind of choreographed ballet only possible for two people who have worked together for years.

 

It's about halfway through the surgery when Regina notices the vibrancy of the colour surrounding her beginning to dim. She frowns, pauses what she's doing, and studies the monitors. Emma's heart rate is slow but still steady. The frown deepens as the colour continues to fade.  _ Something is wrong _ .

 

“Regina?” Ruby doesn't look up but she's clearly noticed that something is going on.

 

Regina ignores her, tells the intern standing to her left to hold the clamp and she moves, eyes still on the monitor. “I need the paddles,” she decides and everyone in the room looks at her like she's lost her mind. No one moves. “Did I stutter?  _ Paddles, _ ” she demands. 

 

“ _ Regina?  _ Talk to me,” Ruby's words are a little more urgent now as a nurse hands over the paddles to Regina.

 

Regina doesn't have to answer though because her world is suddenly grey again and Emma is crashing, the peaks on the heart monitor flattening out into an ominous line, and she's lowering the paddles to Emma's chest. “Clear,” she calls and colour flickers as she shocks Emma and immediately fades back away. “Charge again,” her jaw his set, her own heart racing erratically in her chest, as she lowers the paddles once more, “Clear.”

 

There's a second where she thinks it hasn't worked and she's already opening her mouth to call for another charge but then there's a beep from the monitor and the room is filled with vibrant colour once more.  She breathes a sigh of relief and moves back to where the intern is still holding the clamp, taking back over.

 

Ruby shoots her a quizzical look across the operating table, clearing wanting to know how Regina knew that Emma was about to crash, but she doesn't say a word. 

 

xxxxxx

 

The surgery takes hours. Ruby offers to be the one to go talk to Emma's family when it's finally over but Regina shakes her head and insists that she'll take care of it. 

 

The waiting room is filled with police officers. All somber faced and quiet sitting shoulder to shoulder in uncomfortable chairs. She approaches the group, purses her lips and studies them all a moment.

 

Someone notices her, bounces up and out of his seat and suddenly the whole group is standing too, surrounding her. 

 

A man who looks to be in his early forties with light coloured hair with just the beginnings of grey is the one to speak, “You were the one looking after Emma, right?”

 

She recognizes him now as one of the officers who'd tried to come into the trauma bay. “Yes,” she nods, looks past him, searching, “Is her family here?”

 

“ _ We're  _ her family,” a man with dark hair, slightly younger than the first man, snaps, his tone of voice alarming angry. 

 

“ _ Graham _ ,” the first man chastises with a sigh, shooting him a look, before he looks over at Regina apologetically, “Sorry. We're all just a little tense.”

 

Regina nods in understanding, “I didn't mean to upset you,” she directs her words to the man with the dark hair,  _ Graham,  _ “It's just that I need to speak with her... _ next of kin _ ,” she choose a word other than family, hoping that will appease them, “That's policy.”

 

Everyone is looking to the man with the light coloured hair and if there was any doubt that he's in charge of this group, it's gone now.

 

“I'm Lieutenant David Nolan. Emma is  _ my _ responsibility,” he rubs the back of his neck, “And what Graham was not so eloquently trying to say before is that Emma has no next of kin. Just us.”

 

Regina’s lips purse.

 

“I'm her emergency medical contact,” David adds, “if that helps.”

 

“Okay,” Regina nods, looks around this group of police officer, notices their tension, the barely masked fear, and wastes no more time getting to the news they all want to hear. “The surgery went well, we managed to repair all the damage caused by the bullet wounds,” she explains, “We've moved her to the ICU. The next twenty four hours are critical but she's young and strong and there's a very high chance she will make a full recovery.”

 

There's a collective sigh of relief.

 

xxxxxxx

 

They all want to see Emma. Regina suggests that it would be better if they came one at a time. David is the natural choice to go first and Regina leads him to the elevator and up to the ICU.

 

David pales as soon as they enter Emma's hospital room, stopping in his tracks and just staring at the occupant of the hospital bed.

 

When a minute passes and then another with no movement from him, Regina says, “You can come closer, you know.” She's at Emma's bedside herself, checking vitals.

 

His eyes don't leave Emma but at Regina’s words he swallows thickly, rubs the back of his neck and shuffles forward so he's standing at the foot of the bed. He looks so hesitant and suddenly so much older, the grey in his hair somehow more pronounced, the lines on his face deeper, “She looks so small.”

 

“It's the medical equipment,” Regina assures him, “It can be overwhelming.”

 

He swallows thickly again, his eyes flickering over to Regina for the briefest of seconds before they are back on Emma. “You know, when I met her she was just this scrawny kid,” he smiles ruefully a minute, remembering something, and then he keeps talking. His voice is distant and Regina knows that he's not so much talking to her as he's talking out loud to himself. “I was just a beat cop then. She was fifteen and I caught her shoplifting. I had to chase her ten blocks to catch her. And, even then, I only caught her because she took a bad turn, ended up in a dead end alley,” he shakes his head, gives that same rueful smile, “Most kids that age, they do one of two things when you catch them. They cry, beg you not to call their parents. Or they get angry, defensive. She didn't do either. She just stood there, watching me with eyes that were too old for her age. She was so resigned. It was only when I asked for her parents number that I saw the flicker of panic. She was an orphan, see. Abandoned on the side of the road as a baby. Living in a group home. So, I took her for a burger. She devoured it like she thought I was going to take it away. Said about five words the whole time,” he reaches a shaky hand out and rests it on top of the blankets, touching Emma's foot through the fabric, “I'd see her around after that. Sometimes I’d give her a ride wherever she was going, buy her a meal. She sort of warmed up to me eventually. I was the one who suggested she apply to the police academy…” his eyes fill with pain and he rubs the back of his neck, glances over at Regina as if he’s suddenly realized he’s been rambling and that she’s still here, “she's good at it, you know. She’s a really good police officer.”

 

Regina never knows what to do when relatives of patients get like this. Reminiscent and rambling and oh so lost. She always feels like it's an invasion of the patient’s privacy, like she's learning information that they probably don't want a stranger to know. It feels even more uncomfortable this time. Emma is her  _ soulmate _ and she can’t help but want to know more about her. But she doesn't want to learn it this way. She wants Emma to tell her. She wants Emma to  _ want  _ to tell her. Regina eyes David carefully, hesitates and then says, “She sounds like a survivor.”

 

He smiles, it’s a slow smile, filled with fondness, “She is. She really is.”

 

Regina smiles too, her eyes drifting over to look at Emma. She still can't quite believe that  _ this _ is her soulmate. It all feels too surreal.

 

xxxxxx

 

The next hour is just a steady stream of police officers. David eventually sends them all home to get some rest and settles himself in a chair at Emma's bedside.

 

Regina is leaning on the counter of the nurses station, jotting notes in a chart for one of her other patient’s, and subtly, or perhaps not so subtly, looking through the window to Emma's room, which is directly across from the nurses station.

 

“What are you still doing here?” Ruby slides up beside her, no longer in her hospital garb but dressed in her casual clothes - tight jeans and a top that doesn't cover her midriff. 

 

Regina quirks an eyebrow at her, “I could ask you the same thing.”

 

“I just came to check on our patient before I do what a person who’s worked all night is supposed to do... _ leave _ . I've got a hot breakfast date with Billy from radiology,” Ruby smirks, “ _ You _ on the other hand,” she eyes Regina’s scrubs, “look like you're not going anywhere.”

 

Regina shrugs one shoulder, “ _ Someone  _ has to keep an eye on our patient, since clearly  _ you _ won't be.”

 

Ruby shakes her head, looking like she doesn't buy it at all. “Are you ready to tell me what's going on with you and the patient, yet?”

 

Regina’s eyes narrow, “There's  _ nothing  _ going on with me and the patient. 

 

“Uh-huh sure,” Ruby rolls her eyes and laughs. Regina glares at her and she only laughs harder. “Well,” Ruby says when she’s finally stopped laughing, “You have yourself a good day hanging out here.” She starts walking away, stops, calls over her shoulder back to Regina, “You know you’re gonna have to tell me eventually.”

 

_ Not if I can help it _ , Regina thinks.

 

xxxxxxx

 

Some time later, Regina enters Emma's room to check her vitals.

 

David looks up from where his head is resting against his hand, he looks absolutely exhausted. 

 

“You should go home,” she tells him.

 

He shakes his head and looks so very wary, “I don't want to leave until she wakes up...I…” he swallows, “I don’t want her to wake here alone.”

 

“There's no way to know when she’ll wake up. I doubt she'd want you sitting here when where you belong is home getting some sleep,” Regina eyes him carefully. She can just tell that he's going to protest and so she tries a different approach, offering, “What if I sit with her until you come back? That way she won't be alone.”

 

David studies her a long moment, uncertainty flashing across his face, and she doesn’t think he’s going to agree, but eventually he nods, “Yeah, okay.”

 

xxxxxx

 

Once David is gone, Regina settles into the chair he'd previously been occupying. She watches the steady rise and fall of Emma's chest for several minutes and then she reaches forward, her hand hovering uncertainly in the air a moment before she lowers it gently to rest on top Emma's. 

 

It's a half an hour later when Emma starts to stir. Her fingers twitch, she groans, and then her eyes blink open and immediately begin darting wildly around the room. Her brow crinkles into a confused frown.

 

“You're okay,” Regina reassures, leaning forward in the chair, trying to catch Emma’s eyes, hoping to ebb any panic she might be feeling, “You're in the hospital.”

 

Emma’s head turns, her eyes settling on Regina. She's still frowning. “Am…” she croaks out, her throat clearly dry. She stops, swallows, and tries again, “Am I dead?”

 

Regina’s frowning now too, concerned and confused at the reaction, “No,” she shakes her head, says carefully, “Do you remember what happened?”

 

Emma squints, her eyes darting around the room once more like she's trying to figure something out. “I…” she looks back at Regina, “I was shot?” It's more of a question than anything.

 

“Yes,” Regina nods, “You're in the ICU. You had surgery. It went well. We repaired all of the damage.”

 

“And I'm  _ not _ dead,” Emma sounds confused, like that's the part she can't figure out.

 

Regina doesn't understand why Emma thinks she's dead but she rushes to confirm, “You are very much alive, I promise.”

 

“Hmm…” Emma's eyes do the sweep of the room again before they're back on Regina. She looks sort of stunned.

 

“What's wrong?” Regina prods, concerned by Emma's puzzling reaction. Anesthesia and the trauma itself are likely making Emma's thoughts foggy but it doesn't really explain why Emma continues to think she's dead.

 

“Everything is...in colour,” Emma’s voice is barely more than a whisper, she sounds awed, but then there's a sudden flicker of horror that crosses her face as she moans, “Oh god. Please tell me the shooter isn't my soulmate.”

 

_ Oh _ . Regina suddenly feels like an idiot.  _ Of course _ Emma doesn't remember the moment just outside the emergency room when their eyes met.  _ Of course _ she would be surprised at waking up to a world filled with colour.  _ Of course _ Emma might assume that she is dead and not that she'd located her soulmate in the midst of a traumatic experience. It all seems so obvious now.  _ Of course _ , Regina hadn't actually even been sure that Emma would see colour at all. A part of her had wondered if this would maybe be like Daniel, only in reverse. 

 

There’s something about knowing that Emma sees colour too that makes Regina’s heart flip against her will. She absolutely hates the reaction. Hates how pathetically hopeful she suddenly feels at the prospect of having a soulmate and at being that same someone's soulmate.

 

Emma is still looking horrified, and Regina realizes she hasn't spoken. “It's not the shooter,” she rushes to soothe Emma. 

 

Emma sighs, looking relieved as her eyes slide closed. “Well that's a relief,” she mumbles. If she's curious why Regina knows that her soulmate isn't the shooter, she doesn't say so. 

 

Emma's eyes stay closed for several minutes and if it wasn't for her slightly elevated heart rate, Regina would assume she'd drifted back to sleep. Eventually Emma's eyes blink back open and she looks over at Regina with droopy lids heavy with exhaustion. “Did I see you before?” the question is curious despite Emma's exhaustion. 

 

“Yes,” Regina says carefully, “I was one of the surgeons who operated on you. We met in the emergency room.” She leaves out the soulmate part. It just doesn't feel right to say anything. Not with Emma just waking up from, quite literally, a near death experience. Any mention of  _ her  _ being Emma's soulmate while Emma can't get up and walk away from the conversation if she wants to just seems wrong. She doesn't want to force this on Emma. She might feel suddenly annoyingly hopeful at the prospect but she has no delusions that the fact that they are soulmates means anything about them having a future together. 

 

“Oh,” Emma nods, looking satisfied with that answer as her eyes slide back closed. After a beat, eyes still closed, she adds, “What's your name?”

 

“Regina Mills.”

 

Once again Emma's eyes blink open. She stares at Regina a long moment and then she smiles, a weird goofy grin like there's some kind of joke that's just transpired that Regina doesn't understand. “It's you isn't it?” She manages to sound both hopeful and hesitant. 

 

Regina’s heart rate increases. She thinks she knows what Emma's asking but she doesn't want to presume. She quirks an eyebrow, there's a slight tremor in her voice as she asks, “It's me,  _ what _ ?”

 

The goofy grin on Emma's face just gets wider and Regina decides this must be some kind of reaction to all the medication she is currently on. “You're my soulmate,” Emma says, sounding much less hesitant now, although the strain of hope in her voice is still there.

 

Regina wasn't going to bring it up before but she's also not about to deny it. “Yes,” she admits carefully. 

 

Emma's sighs in what seems to be contentment, her eyes sliding back closed. “Well what do you know,” she mumbles, forces her eyes back open yet again, “It's my luckiest unlucky day.” She smiles again, this time less goofy and more wistful.

 

Regina can't help but smile back. “You should rest,” Regina says after a beat.

 

Emma’s eyes are nearly closed and she's clearly forcing them to remain open, “will you be here when I wake up?”

 

“Do you want me to be?” Regina tilts her head.

 

Emma smiles slowly, “Yes.”

 

“Then I'll be here,” Regina confirms without hesitation. Her hand is still resting where she'd placed it earlier, on top of Emma's, and she squeezes gently, instructing, “Now close your eyes.”

 

“Okay,” Emma mumbles, her eyes closing obediently and this time they don't reopen,  sleep claiming her within minutes. 

 

Regina settles back in the chair and goes back to watching the rise and fall of Emma's chest. She has no clue what being soulmates will mean for her and Emma. Has no clue what the future might bring them. But she isn't particularly concerned. 

 

Today she met her soulmate. Today she saved her soulmate’s life. And maybe it's something like fate. Or maybe fate has nothing to do with it at all. Perhaps, she thinks, they'll get to make their own fate.


End file.
